News Story

Western JRPG Earthlock: Festival of Magic funded, pledges over $180k

Norwegian studio Snowcastle Games toasts to success their Kickstarter for Earthlock: Festival of Magic, a JRPG from a developer crammed full of JRPG fans, particularly from the PSone era.

They asked for $150k to achieve their campaign but total pledges reached $180k for the orchestral score stretch goal. Snowcastle are holding open the campaign until the end of May.

So if you missed out on the Kickstarter frenzy you're not without a second chance to slap your cash down for Earthlock: Festival of Magic, a JRPG set on a world that stopped spinning.

"On Umbra, a planet that mysteriously stopped spinning ages ago, war is brewing. As desert scavenger Amon, you must stop the coming war by unlocking the mysteries of Umbra and prevent an ancient, magical cult seizing the power," blurbs the official website. We're promised turn-based combat, 'organic crafting', an upgradable home base, environmental puzzles, 'retro' overworld, no random encounters, and male and female protagonists.

"The battle system goes back to the roots of the genre with its no-nonsense turn based combat, but there are several refreshing twists to the formula. One is the pairing system. Instead of separate characters, your party is made up of pairs where each pair is composed of a warrior and a protector."

"One of the unique aspects of Earthlock is Plumpet Island, which functions as your very own home village. Here you can perform key activities like harvesting consumables and managing your character progression. Players will be able to check in on their harvest using portals found scattered across the world of Umbra."

"While your village starts off pretty minimalistic you will get new shops and items throughout the game which adds new mechanics like potion brewing, barnacle care and weapon upgrades."